Godzilla Unleashed - first look

All guy-in-rubber-suit jokes aside, who wouldn't want to be the title titan in a Japanese giant monster movie? You get to stomp around, belch laser beams, munch on some people or maybe a nuclear reactor, and demolish every single thing in your path as you defend your hood from other 200-ton freaks of nature. Then, some toy company makes an action figure that looks like you. What's not to love?

This basic philosophy looks to be proven true by the latest in publisher Atari's line of monster brawlers, Godzilla Unleashed. It's all about taking command of one of 16 colossal combatants and pounding the unnaturally huge crap out of each other.

Above: PSP screens haven't been released yet, but they should only look slightly less sexy than these Wii shots

Granted, there's not a ton of wiggle room within the base concept: you still have 30-story lizards, mecha, insects, and aliens throwing down and flattening entire cityscapes. But fans of the first two games in this series will still notice the graphics have been completely overhauled, things are more destructible than ever (literally every building can be reduced to rubble, bit by bit) and the fighting system has been rebooted.

You have basic high and low attacks (the exact moves differ from creature to creature, but the basic theme is the same, to make it easier to switch characters). But you also get a jump, a crouch, uppercuts, dashes, a hammer-fisted slam, and other bone-shattering moves. The moves can happen simultaneously, too - you don't have to stop dashing forward to deliver a roundhouse punch, for example.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.